ICC Players Rankings: The Indian Women's team on Tuesday received a boost ahead of the Women's T20 World Cup as their star player has inched closer to the World No.1 spot in T20I bowlers' rankings. Harmanpreet Kaur's team is currently playing in South Africa in a T20I Tri-series with West Indies and the host nation. However, on the back of her brilliant outings with the ball, an Indian spin all-rounder starred in the recently released ICC Players rankings.
In the latest ICC Rankings, India's Deepti Sharma has scaled one spot up in the T20I bowlers rankings to take the second spot. She has 737 rating points and sits 26 ratings away from the World's No.1 bowler Sophie Ecclestone. Meanwhile, South Africa's Nonkululeko Mlaba also moved one spot up from fourth to third to pile the pressure on the No.1 English bowler.
Not only Deepti, but India's Rajeshwari Gayakwad also moved four spots to reach 14th on the T20I bowlers' list. There were more movements inside the top ten as Australia pacer Megan Schutt and England seamer Katherine Sciver-Brunt scaled some places. While Schutt jumped six places to reach 5th, Brunt moved two spots up to reach 6th. In the batting chart, Smriti Mandhana still stays in third with 731 rating points. Australia's Tahlia McGrath maintains the lead at the top with 803 ratings, while South Africa's Laura Wolvaardt improves four places to ninth overall in the batting tally.
There is not much movement in the top 10 list of all-rounders with only Australia's Ellyse Perry taking the 10th spot. India's Deepti continues to be on second on this list, behind Ashleigh Gardner, who is at the top.
Notably, the Women's T20 World Cup is set to be kicked off on February 10 in South Africa. The Indian team is put in Group B alongside, Pakistan, West Indies, England and Ireland. India will play their first match against Pakistan on February 12.
